Rishabh Pant gets maiden call; Shami back for first 3 England Tests
New Delhi, July 18 : Explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was on Wednesday picked as the second choice stumper as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recalled pacer Mohammed Shami in the 18-member squad for the first three Tests of the five-match rubber against England.
Pant was rewarded with the Test call-up following a successful run with the willow in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Shami, who was dropped from the lone Test match against Afghanistan for failing a fitness test, made his way back to the team after clearing the mandatory yo-yo test. Middle-order batsman Karun Nair has also been re-called to the squad while Rohit Sharma failed to make it.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who is recuperating from a thumb injury, has been included in the squad, but will be available for selection from the second Test onwards based on his fitness, a BCCI statement confirmed.
Meanwhile, fellow paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar has his back injury after featuring in the third One-day International (ODI) against England on Tuesday and was left out of the first three Tests.
"Bhuvneshwar Kumar aggrevated a lower back condition in the third ODI against England. His condition is being assessed by the BCCI medical team and a call on his inclusion in the Test squad will be made soon," the board said.
India's squad for first three Tests against England: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur.
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Talks about split coaching surprising, important for people to stay in their domain: Gambhir
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Saturday came down heavily on theories doing the rounds on social media about split coaching, terming them "surprising" and asked those opinion-makers to stay "in their domain."
After India’s recent 0-2 Test series defeat against South Africa, some influential cricketing names, including an IPL team owner, asked the BCCI to consider appointing separate coaches for red-ball and white ball formats.
"Look, there were a lot of talks because the results didn't go in our favour (in Test series). But the most surprising thing is that not once did any media or journalist wrote that our first Test match (in Kolkata) was played without the captain (Shubman Gill), who didn't bat in both innings (because of a neck injury)," Gambhir said during the post-match press meet after India clinched the ODI series against SA 2-1.
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Gambhir said such opinion makers should refrain from making remarks that have no direct connection with on-field cricketing matters.
“Some people also said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner (Parth Jindal of Delhi Capitals on X) also wrote about split coaching.
“So this is surprising. It's very important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we don't go into someone's domain, then they also don't have the right to come into our domain,” Gambhir added.
Gambhir had also stated his achievements as the red-ball coach in the post-match press conference at Guwahati in what looked like a self-defence mechanism after a series defeat at home.
“I don't give excuses in press conferences. It doesn't mean that you don't show the facts in front of the world or the country. When you go through a transition and when you lose your captain, who is also your main batter in red-ball cricket against such a team (SA).
"Then obviously the results are difficult because you don't have that much experience in red ball cricket. And the surprising thing is that no one even talked about it. All the discussions about wickets, I don't know what all things were said," he noted.
